Pressure on Egypt army to deliver -Egypt's army has clashed with protesters

Pressure on Egypt army to deliver

Activists threaten more rallies while life is slowly returning to normality after the ouster of Mubarak. Egypt's army has clashed with protesters, refusing to leave Cairo's Liberation Square two days after the US-backed dictator Hosni Mubarak left the country. Soldiers on Sunday scuffled with thousands of protesters camping out in the Square, the focal point of massive rallies that brought down Mubarak on Friday, a Press TV correspondent reported.  Shouting slogans, protesters fought street battles with soldiers forcing them to back away.  Despite army's appeal to leave the square in Cairo, thousands of protesters vowed to remain on the major landmark until their demands are met.  Activists have demanded the release of political prisoners, the lifting of a 30-year-old state of emergency and the disbandment of military courts. They insist that demonstrations will continue until the army accepts the reforms.

Egypt has woken up to its first working day since President Hosni Mubarak was toppled during the weekend. Soldiers formed lines and moved in around protesters still in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday as traffic started flowing through the square again for the first time in more than two weeks. Protesters chanted "Peacefully, peacefully" as the soldiers moved, and a few resisted the line of troops. The tents, where protesters have camped out overnight, were removed. Protester Ashraf Ahmed said the military could tear down his tent, but that he was not going to leave "because so much still needs to be done. They haven't implemented anything yet.'' Al Jazeera's James Bays, reporting from Cairo, said there had been some "very small scuffles" when the troops approached protesters. "I think it reflects a bigger problem, that he military believes that now Mubarak is out, it's time for stability. But some of the protesters think not enough has been done yet. They don't want to clear that square until the army has handed over to a civilian government." Protest organisers have threatened more rallies if the ruling Supreme Military Council fails to accept their agenda for reform. "If the army does not fulfil our demands, our uprising and its measures will return stronger," Safwat Hegazi, a protest leader, said. Organisers want the dissolution of parliament and the lifting of a 30-year-old state of emergency. Cabinet to stay The spokesman for the cabinet, appointed when Mubarak was still in office, said on Sunday that it will not undergo a major reshuffle and will stay to oversee a political transformation in the coming months. "The shape of the government will stay until the process of transformation is done in a few months, then a new government will be appointed based on the democratic principles in place," the spokesman told Reuters, adding that it was possible some portfolios could change hands in that period. The Supreme Military Council, which is ruling the country since Mubarak's ouster, vowed on Saturday to hand power to an elected, civilian government. The military will "guarantee the peaceful transition of power in the framework of a free, democratic system which allows an elected, civilian power to govern the country to build a democratic, free state", a senior army officer announced on state television. The council also pledged to honour its international treaties - in an apparent nod to the country's 1979 peace treaty with Israel. "The Arab Republic of Egypt is committed to all regional and international obligations and treaties," the military statement read. Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, welcomed the assurance, saying the "longstanding peace treaty between Israel and Egypt ... is the cornerstone for peace and stability in the entire Middle East".